Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas DEMOLISHES West Virginia in Big 12 Opener | Jayhawks Send Shockwaves Through Conference

Starting point is 00:00:00 Lance Leipold might have got himself a squad. 41 to 10 Big 12 opening victory over West Virginia. Let's recap it. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, what's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Thanks for making it. first listen every day. And thank you every day. There's catching each and every episode of the show. A little recap episode for you today, whether you're catching us on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcasts as Kansas takes down West Virginia, 41 to 10, 31 point. Ho-hum victory for the Jayhawks in their Big 12 opener. They moved to 3-1, 1-0 in Big 12 play, new season and conference play. And boy, was it impressive for KU to start Big 12 play.

Starting point is 00:00:52 We're going to get it all into it. Game Awards, stat of the game, who stood out, game balls, all that. Early look at Cincinnati, maybe we'll get to a little bit as well on this episode of the show. We are brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. Mazda move and be moved. Kansas 41, West Virginia, 10.

Starting point is 00:01:20 And obviously it was a good spot for Kansas coming off a biweek West Virginia, coming off the rivalry game, just from an emotional level. I think that showed out in KU's favor in this game. But let's not take away or detract using that just to say that's the only reason. Kansas won this game by 31 because they are a pretty good football team. And I think as we continue to pile on more and more data points here, you continue to be more, I guess, impressed as to what Kansas has done to this point in the season. So, you know, set aside the FCS game with Wagner, like whatever. Fresno State right now is at time of recording, they're three and one.

Starting point is 00:02:00 They're playing Hawaii tonight. It was also three and one. So that'll be a little more of a litmus test. But since then, Fresno State has won, you know, all three of their football games. Missouri won their game after they played Kansas. And then today they beat South Carolina, solid South Carolina team by nine points. They're sitting at four and oh, and they have a decent schedule and their top 25 in the country. So you're looking at, you know, blowing out, easily beating a solid Mountain West team.

Starting point is 00:02:25 you're looking at having a chance to beat a good SEC team on the road. And now you're looking at beating a, yes, I know West Virginia, you know, they're not expected to win eight or nine games, but they're a team that could easily win, you know, six or seven games, make a bowl game and be already beat another power four school in Pitt last week. And this game was over in the third quarter. Like, it's not just the idea that you're winning games. It's the idea you're blowing them out, right?

Starting point is 00:02:52 Because there is just another level to that. it is hard to blow out other teams. It just is. And that shows what you can possibly be. It's one thing, you know, if you're winning all these games close, Kansas is not doing that right now. Like they are not, it's just not a thing in these wins. Like they're just finding a way to kind of crush them.

Starting point is 00:03:10 And this is actually one of those, sometimes you get games where the final score is not totally indicative of how close or not close the game was. You know, sometimes like you can have a game in the final score where, I guess Wagner would be a good example of it for KU, even though it was a 39-point win, so it's like, what does it matter? But KU could have easily, they had two turnovers in the red zone. They could have easily won that came by 50, you know?

Starting point is 00:03:34 And so the final score actually wasn't indicative of how much KU dominated that game. Now, that's, again, an FCS game, probably not the best example there. But this is one where you actually look at the final stats and you say, oh, Kansas 388 yards, West Virginia, 324, that's only like a 60-yard difference there. like Kansas had 10 more penalty yards. Neither team was great on third down. What led to, like, is that really deserving of Kansas winning by 31? I'm telling you right now, if you just peruse the box score,

Starting point is 00:04:06 I do not think it does this justice. Kansas stifled Westford. They had six punts on their first six drives of the game. They couldn't do anything in the game. And you were able to build up an est egg. And what the yardage total doesn't tell you is that Emmanuel Henderson had a kickoff return for a touchdown. Guess what? That counts into the score. And for all we know, if he doesn't do that, Kansas is able to rack up, you know, 70 or 80 more yards on a drive. And then the yardage

Starting point is 00:04:30 looks even more lopsided. Trey Lathen had a bunch of yards on an interception return. And obviously you didn't score on that drive. But again, maybe that's more yards that you would have been able to accrue here or there. You look at the two turnovers that you forced and you not having any like and then giving up some yardage at the end of the game to like backup quarterbacks allowing them to run the football this is one of those situations where I think the the box score the stats actually don't do it justice I think the final score actually did this justice more who felt like they were in control of the game the whole way through it was Kansas again this was a game where you got to rest jalen Daniels in the fourth quarter this was a dominant outing for

Starting point is 00:05:12 Kansas the 4110 score I think told the story better than if somebody just pulls up the stats and the yards tomorrow and what's crazy too is Kansas did like if you would have told me that Kansas was going to have a game where they won by the you know big number 31 points in this situation against West Virginia I would have thought one of the things that they would have I say fixed but you know Kansas was the best team in the big 12 last year statistically on third down so for this year that hasn't been the case they've struggled on third down I think coming in the game they're only like 29 percent that did not get fixed in this game they were five of 14 which is better than their season long.

Starting point is 00:05:48 average, but it's not like a huge number. I would have thought if they boom out, they put up 41 points, they killed it on those third downs. They just had like a, you know, below average fine game on third downs, but they were so good in so many areas. And I think you really see the depth. You see the personnel overhaul in defense. You continue to see the play calling extraordinary from both Jim Zabrowski slash Matt Lubick as offense coordinator and D.K. McDonald as defensive coordinator. You continue to see all those things mesh together and all those things blend together because there's not just like, like, okay, I think back to the Colorado game last year that Kansas beat Colorado. And it mostly was, it was, it was, yes, there were there were a bunch

Starting point is 00:06:30 of things KU did well to win the game, but it was one dominant force. It was like, you did this well, you did this well, you were solid at this, but it was Devin Neal and the KU running game is road grading Colorado and that dominated. And there wasn't really one category. I guess you could say the defense as a whole right you give up just 10 points they punt those first six drives of the game the the only touchdown you gave up was when you kind of had backups in there and they had their backup quarterback in there so maybe you could say that but it's like that canes passed for 146 yards they only completed 50% of their passes they weren't bad bad they mean they had three touchdowns and no interceptions like it was a fine passing game it wasn't one that you're going to write home

Starting point is 00:07:05 about um the rushing game you had 242 that is really good but also a lot of that was from the 62 yards that, I mean, a quarter of that was from LaShawn Williams' 62 rushing yard. So you were a good run in the football, but was it like a takeover, Tony Sands, Devin Neal type of game? No, not really that either. No receiver besides Emmanuel Henderson had more than one catch. And Henderson wasn't even the team. He was third on the team in receiving yard.

Starting point is 00:07:27 So it's not like you had, you know, again, a Desmond Briscoe, Carrie Meyer type of giant stat line from one of the receivers. Again, defense was very good. Even then, Kansas had two sacks. They forced two turnovers. It's not like it was a game where Kansas had set. sacks, or they had 15 tackles for loss, or they had five turnovers. They just did a lot of things well. They just, there wasn't really anything that like, like, what did West Virginia do better

Starting point is 00:07:52 than Kansas in this game? I don't think there is an answer to that. I don't know. Maybe there's something that I'm not giving enough credit for. I'm not, you know, looking at here, but it just feels like Kansas was able to be a little bit better at least in pretty much every category. And that is how you end up winning a game this big. And that is so impressive because, yes, there's going to be certain games where you're not

Starting point is 00:08:11 better than the other team in every single category. But if you are well-rounded and go to a lot of different things, it gives you a lot of different escape routes, where if you're not having your best game, maybe this other thing steps up in that specific game. And that was just so impressive, I think, for KU. And to find the running game again, again, it wasn't perfect. I mean, you had 242. It looks really good in the end, six yards per carry.

Starting point is 00:08:33 If you take out the LaShawn Williams run, it's 40 carries for 180, which is still good. It's, you know, four and a half yards per carry. it's not like amazing you have the run and you do get to count it right because the whole point of having you know small runs is that eventually you hope to bust one so it does count in there and it was a good running game and obviously it wasn't perfect but it was worlds better than the Missouri game where I think you come away from this saying even with the Daniel high shot injury you come away from this kind of saying um okay I feel good about the running game is not going to be non-existent again like the Missouri game I don't know maybe when you face Texas

Starting point is 00:09:09 attack who their defense looked really good in that Utah game maybe we're going to face Utah who you know Utah kind of fell apart late in that game but um prior to really the fourth quarter when their like backup quarterback came in it uh was definitely a situation where um the the Utah defense look pretty good so like maybe in those specific situations it'll be something where you know the KU rushing game has their their concerns or whatever but I just feel a lot better about that I do think I probably haven't talked enough about the defense to this point in time because what a game for the defense. You hold them to 324 yards. And again, a lot of that came, it seemed like, in the fourth quarter. I think they had close to, I don't know, I guess not just fourth quarter

Starting point is 00:09:56 because there was part of that drive that Jalen Henderson led the touchdown for West Virginia. Part that was in the third quarter to. But if we just take like that drive out of the equation, So Henderson picks up 79 rushing yards, like on the drives that he's in. Khalil Wilkins picks up 36. That's 115 of their yards right there, just on those plays. And then you're getting 16 more in the air for Jalen Anderson. So basically by the time you had put the game away, you're putting in some of your backups. You've also basically, like, I think part of that drive, the West Virginia gets a touchdown,

Starting point is 00:10:27 there's a little bit of shock and off for Kansas from a perspective of, hey, we've prepared to not face a running quarterback. Now we have our backups in. Now we're trying to get them to prepare to face running quarterback. It's going to take a drive to adjust. But if you look at it, like if you take out those yards, they basically had 200 yards of offense when it really mattered through about three quarters. The defense was excellent for KU. And we go back to the Missouri game and it just didn't feel like you could get a stop.

Starting point is 00:10:52 But I remind people, the Kansas defense was good in that game on first and second down. Missouri made big plays on third and fourth down. And some of that was, yeah, maybe KU didn't cover right or this didn't work out. for Kansas. Some of that was Missouri, just making a really good play. Some of it was Eli Drinkwitz just having, you know, a good amount of plays for those key downs in those key moments. But Kansas has been really good on defense so far this season. You give up to seven to Wagner, you give up to seven to Fresno, now 10 to West Virginia. I really like what D.K. McDonald and Lance Lightbold have done with this defense. And now the fact that you

Starting point is 00:11:26 didn't just beat Fresno in West Virginia, again, maybe those two teams end up six and six and seven and five at the end of the day. That's still at least decent competition. And you made a mincemeat, 72 to 17 in those two games combined of both games that Jayland Daniels didn't play basically in the fourth quarter. Pretty darn good for Lance Lightpools boys. Let's get to our game awards, stat of the game, all that and more this is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by Mazda, moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game. It's about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This

Starting point is 00:12:13 week's moment that move the game forward and fresh one for this, we're going to go with the Emmanuel Henderson kick return touchdown because it really did move the game forward from a standpoint of, you know, you never know. A game can be a game of two halves. Like one team can dominate one half, another team can dominate another half. And so it's important to always start with good momentum in each half. And Kansas had an excellent finish to the first half to go from, okay, West Virginia scores. It's now 10 to 3. Is this going to be a game? Kansas pushed it out to 20 to 3 at half, but then are they going to be able to sustain? Are they going to be able to keep that momentum? Boom, Manuel Henderson bust the kick return. And from there, the boat races on. And when

Starting point is 00:12:47 you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda move and be moved. Today's episode is also brought to you by Wayfair. The weather's cooling down, days are getting shorter, and that has me wanting to make my home feel even cozier. And when it comes to cozifying your space this fall, Wayfair is the place to go. Wayfair is everything you need to set the mood for the season, whether it's comfy recliners, warm bedding, autumn decor, or even an espresso machine so you can make your favorite latte at home. It's the perfect time to set up your home for fall so you can enjoy cozy nights in with the family and friends. Cozify your space with Wayfair's curated

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Starting point is 00:14:11 The Trey Lath and Interception was a really cool moment of the game just in terms of like transfer from West Virginia had the big interception. He had a good game for Kansas, but as far as impacting the game, I think it's these four. I mean, Kansas goes for the fourth and two on their first drive of the game, and they get a touchdown on it to Levi Wentz on a play design that seemed to confuse the West Virginia defense and probably a bit of a coverage bust there too. Jalen able to find Wentz and he's off and running off to the races for a touchdown. That was Wentz's only catch of the game. It goes for a 41-yard touchdown on that fourth down. But going for a fourth down after you have all

Starting point is 00:14:49 the talk about the Missouri game where Missouri went for a bunch of fourth downs, Kansas was, you know, too conservative in that game and going for that fourth down, set a tone at the early part of the game, especially then the result didn't hurt either. I felt like this was a really big play at the time. I forget if it was, I think it was 7-0 at the time, not 10-0, but regardless, it was other 7-0-10-0.

Starting point is 00:15:11 Kansas had the football, and there was a bad snap for Jalen Daniels. It was too low. It was one where Jalen probably should have dove on the ball just to cover it and take the loss. Try to pick it up and make something happen and then it squirted away because the defender was right there. LaShawn Williams jumped on the football and

Starting point is 00:15:26 covered the football for KU. And now that I'm thinking about it, honestly, like, did that count against him in his rushing stats? Because that would make the 19 carries for 129 and the touchdown even more impressive if that did. I think it did. Anyway, that's a big play because, and I don't think what, I don't think Kansas converted on the third downer, I think.

Starting point is 00:15:47 But if West Virginia picks that up, there's a chance they could scoop and score it. And then beyond that, it's even if they just pick it up and have great field position, A, it's a chance to get the offense going. B, it's a big momentum change. And so that was such a big cover by LaShawn Williams. I think it's kind of an unsung play in this game. He also had the touchdown and the final touchdown, too, that you could mention here. The throwback to LaShawn Williams was also huge at the end of the first half.

Starting point is 00:16:14 You get the kind of razzle-dazzle going to the left and they throw back to the right on the deep ball or the wheel route to Williams. It goes for a 39-yard touchdown. And that was right after West Virginia made it a one-score game. game it was 10 to 3 west it's like okay k u's offense has started to stall a little bit since the first drive west virginia has now scored have they started to find momentum and kansas able to go down and get a quick touchdown and that was huge to win back the momentum that was probably the biggest moment in the game where you're questioning okay is this going to be a game and then Kansas takes control back that one was huge and then like i mentioned uh during the ad read the henderson

Starting point is 00:16:50 kickoff return touchdown keeping the momentum on on k u side and and And that was kind of the one where it was like, okay, I think KU's going to be fine here. Like the way that the defense is playing, now you're getting the special themes involved. That was kind of the game sealer to me in terms of like you should win now. Obviously, there was more work to be done. But it put you in that prime position. But I am going to go with the LaShawn Williams 39-yard play because, yeah, that was when I think the game was most in doubt in terms of West Virginia. I got it to the one-score game.

Starting point is 00:17:18 What was going to happen at the end of half? Where was the momentum going to be? And you certainly stole it back. Our stat of the game, we're going to go with two, I guess, technically three. This first one is kind of altogether. Kansas led five to one in tackles for loss. Honestly, the more impressive number is the one that Kansas only allowed one tackle for loss on them. That is really good work from the offensive line that you're not getting, you know, a lot of negative push.

Starting point is 00:17:42 But anytime you're five to one in TFL's, that's a good number. There's also two zero in sacks. West Virginia came in tied second in the country in total sacks this season. And they added Jemori Robinson a 10 and a half. half-sac player at UTSA to the fold for his first game of the season. Well, Kansas give up zero sacks. Now, there certainly were a fair share of quarterback hits here and there for West Virginia. I do think the escapability and the mobility of Jalen Daniels and the veteranness to kind of

Starting point is 00:18:07 have that internal clock and, and, you know, know when to get rid of the football here and there. Like, that obviously helps. Like, it's not just the offense line. Sometimes sacks or lack of sacks can also be on the quarterback. But, you know, in the end, even if we're just looking at quarterback hurries, West Virginia only at three in the game. So against a good pass rushing team, Kansas handled them really well. Really impressive for the offensive line and that escapeability.

Starting point is 00:18:35 And then, yeah, getting a couple sacks yourself and five TFLs, that doesn't hurt either. And then this other stat too. So again, Jalen Henderson had seven carries for seven yards a touchdown. Khalil Wilkins, the other backup quarterback, five carries for 36 yards. in the end, West Virginia ends up with 182 rushing yards 4.4 per carry. But if we're just looking at the like the, I don't know, what did you do when the game was on the line? What did you do when the game mattered type of stuff? If we take out the two backup quarterback rushing yards, the rest of the Mountiers

Starting point is 00:19:07 totaled 29 carries for 67 yards. That's a little over two yards per carry. So basically you're not getting anything. And that allowed KU to dominate the tempo of this game, to dominate the possession, to force the West Virginia defense on the field a lot after quick drives because of the pace that West Virginia's offense plays at. That was really impressive. Our awards, we've got three we're going to give out the going through stages of anger to being scared to being happy award goes to the Fred Perry dirty hit on Jaylon Daniels. He's sliding down,

Starting point is 00:19:39 takes a hit from Perry, and you go from being angry, you understand why Kobe Baines kind of does what he does. Then you go to being, I guess, uh like i guess sad like oh no is jalen hurt does he have a concussion then you go to being happy of like okay he's warming up everything's okay um the remy martin energizer bunny award for like little guy who has so much energy goes to tate and aggie that dude again just unnerving energy coming from the punt return spot and then the hit of the game i thought about putting this in the conversation for play of the game i ended up giving it its own award for hit of the game it has to go to lyric Rawls. Unfortunately, we saw Devin Die get ejected for a targeting call. He'll be out of the first

Starting point is 00:20:22 half next game. That was unfortunate, especially with Taylor Davis being banged up and you liking to have that safety dep. And I thought Die has played well so far this season. Obviously, Taylor Davis ended up playing through the injury, just kind of delayed and actually had a good game when he came in there. But with Rawls, he had a giant hit and he was able to make it legal. Led with like the shoulder, forearm, whatever arm area, clean into the chest of the defender, absolutely decleted him. That was an unbelievable hit by Lerick Rawls. It's cool to see, too, the West Virginia guy ended up being okay, probably like got the wind knocked out of him.

Starting point is 00:20:58 You can understand why. He'll probably be feeling that one for a little. But that was a smash from Lerick Rawls, and that was certainly a fun one for KU. All right, let's get to our game balls. If we have time, we'll get to a little on Cincinnati. This is locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of L.OJ is brought to you by Square. You might have gone to, I don't know, a local eatery, local restaurant, local shop.

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Starting point is 00:22:14 but before you do, support your favorite neighborhood spot, you'll be happy you did. Square, see you in the neighborhood. Today's episode is also brought to you by DoorDash. It is the weekend. It's time to look back and crown this past week's MVP. Actually, we're going to go today on who delivered, powered by DoorDash,

Starting point is 00:22:31 just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash Streaks, saving more every time you order these players delivered when it mattered most. Let's break it down. We're going to get to our game balls here, so you're going to hear me talk more about this guy, but it felt like every time KU needed a play, Emanuel Henderson was there, right? He led the team with six catches.

Starting point is 00:22:49 Nobody else had more than one on the team for KU. And some of it, even as he's a speedser and a home run threat, he was making some of the shorter catches, some of the small little paper cut plays that you need to move the ball in the defense. And then he did have the home run play. With the kick return touchdown, it was a big time week just all around for Eman Henderson. And just like he delivered for the Jayhawks,

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Starting point is 00:23:54 obviously good to see there. And then he has the kick return for a touchdown. He is so explosive. He had another kick return, though, too, that what did you take it back? It was like 30.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas DEMOLISHES West Virginia in Big 12 Opener | Jayhawks Send Shockwaves Through Conference

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